The Most Important Thematic Connection So, as I've been covering the themeatic connections between all of the novels we've read, I wanted to give my opinion on what I believe to be the most important novel in terms of the themes I found important throughout our semester. In Go, Went, Gone, the themes of self-affirmation, self-acceptance and learning to understand others and the world around you are what I believe to be the most relevant and relative themes in terms of EVERY novel we read. We can see these themes present in the vegetarian as it covers self-affirmation. Even if society is against you, learning to affirm your individuality and your own personal existence is important. In Exit West, learning to understand others and in turn understanding yourself is heavily present. Nadia and Saeed come to a broader understanding of the world around them due to their experiences with globalization, which results in them coming to understand themselves at the end of the novel. In This Mournable Body, Tambu learns to accept herself. Despite the obstacles she's faced with and despite with the challenges she endures, she learns to accept who she is. In Drive Your Plow Over The Bones of The Dead, although Janina isn't able to necessarily understand others, she's able to affirm her own existence on the world. It's a negative affirmation, however she still does it. And that's what is important, the perspective. Her actions are morally justifiable through her own subjective lense, and yet through our lense and the other characters' viewpoints, they aren't justifiable. In Kafka on the Shore, self-acceptance is possibly one of the most important themes present. Although self-determination and facing fate is important, self-acceptance is also present. Kafka learns that instead of rejecting this curse that was placed on him, he learns to accept who he was born as and this results in him being able to face his 'fate' head on.
Connected Themes #2 I believe the concepts of globalization and highlighting the importance of postcolonialism tie almost perfectly together. Zimbabwean women face obstacles as a result of global expansion from the west. I believe this ties into the globalization aspect in Exit West as through the many places they visited on their journey, they were able to see similar negative effects that were present in This Mournable Body.
Main Theme The main theme for This Mournable Body is pretty obvious. That being the challenges in which women in Zimbabwe face as well as women in general. The challenges they face are completely different then any other problem other people face in the world, and this book aims to bring the reader to recognize these problems and the severity of them. I also believe it slightly covers postcolonialism, as the aftermath of the west's colonization of certain countries came with heavy negative effects. And these negative effects were present all throughout This Mournable Body.
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Connected Themes #1 I believe that in terms of these two stories, they have the most similar present themes. Although Janina doesn't necessarily defy fate, similar to Kafka, she's a determinist. She's extremely self-determined and believes that no matter the cost, the ends justify her actions.
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Connected Themes #3
There's an obvious relation between the themes of human behavior and our experiences and individuality. Human experiences, as shown throughout NW, are what make us. Our experiences are essential to our perception of the world. This ties into individuality as the one of the most important aspects of strengthening yourself as an individual is being able to percieve the world from your lense, from your subjectivity, not what society pressures you to see.
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